The designers of fishing lures have as their main object the attraction of fish.
Recent studies have shown that fish are attracted to other fish in a variety of ways that involve sight, smell and motion sensing.
Most fishing lures in the past focused mainly on the aspect of sight, i.e., designing the lure to be a look-alike of another fish or insect upon which a particular fish feeds. For example, if a particular fish such as a trout feeds upon flies, the lure was designed to resemble a fly.
One of the best ways to attract a fish is to simulate the swimming motion or actions of a fish or insect.
Often the motion of another fish is the primary attraction in luring a fish to strike. Anglers have instinctively known this for a long time, in that they often play with the line in order to attract, or induce a fish to strike. Vertical motions in particular are often performed by anglers to simulate motion of a live fish or insect, since such weighted lines are especially susceptible to such motions.
It is surprising then, that designers of fishing lures have neglected to fashion their lures with realistic motion simulation as the primary attraction.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,677,176 (reissued as U.S. Pat. No. 22,032) issued to Donaly discloses an artificial fish bait having a buoyant body portion which is tapered to form a reduced neck. Hooks are attached directly to the body portion. Wings are hinged to opposite sides of the body portion by means of a transverse slot in each wing and a strip of sheet metal formed into a loop. The looped strip has a front end portion with increased width to form forward stop means for the wings.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,556,683 issued to Deitz discloses a fishing lure having lateral fins directly attached to the body portion of the fishing lure by means of pins. The fishing lure body itself forms a stop, beyond which the lateral fins cannot move, to simulate fins against the side of a small fish, as occurs in nature.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,396,484 issued to Clark discloses a fishing sinker having spaced apart prong pairs connected to the fishing sinker body. Connected to each prong member is a coil spring to bias the corresponding prong member when in its forward position. Unfortunately, the coil springs of this fishing sinker represent a cumbersome and relatively expensive mechanism for controlling the prongs.
The present invention features a fishing lure that has as its primary attractive feature the simulation of fish and insect motions and actions.
The simulated motion of the inventive lure is provided without the requirement of playing the line. That is, the lure will automatically simulate the motion of a fish or insect in response to the tidal action of the sea, or the bobbing motion of a float.
The enjoyment of the angler in playing with the line is not eliminated, but rather enhanced, because the motion of the inventive lure adds to the deceptive motion. The additional automatic motion simulation allows for continuous attraction even when the line is not being pulled or jerked.